Trying to Understand the Saw Franchise: A Retrospective 

Consider supporting the channel by checking out the LS Mark Figure before it's gone FOREVER - www.ownaj.com/products/ls-mark-non-specific-dog-figure Also I apologies for all the filters over the screen during the movies, I had to re-render this thing like 7 times just for it to get approved. ALSO ALSO, because I've had to re-edit this video over and over I might've made certain mistakes in editing like clips repeating due to me getting numb from copy/pasting clips in so much, so if you ever see that then lemme know and I'll remove it!

Jigsaw is the kind of guy who’d push you off a building and blame gravity.

The true horror of saw is how it got the video copyrighted like 80 times before it got released

"Remember that time you killed an insect when you were 4? In 90 seconds this machine will pulled your stomach out through your mouth. Good luck."

Billy needing his own seat on the plane to LA is the funniest thing. Imagine just him chillin on your flight beside you for 18 hours 😭

The fact the actor for Rodrick gets the fucking coolest kill in the film is absolutely awesome and makes Saw VI 1000 times better

I’m afraid I’m gonna have to sit this one out, Mark. My mom said this might be too scary for me

My favorite thing from the Saw fandom is the glitter gifs that turn all the gore into animated red sparkles like those early 2000s glitter gifs that were everywhere

Just an Xavier fun fact: Frankie G--the guy who plays him--is described as literally the nicest guy ever, 100% golden retriever energy; and he always checked in and made sure everyone was okay.

YES YOU UNDERSTAND YOU GET IT. i’ve always said that the second the apprentices get involved, the saw movies turn into a soap opera/tele-novella. the traps are there of course but once you get past that it’s just a drama and i LOVE IT

The Saw franchise is basically the FNAF of Classic Horror Movies as they both have -Convoluted Lore that doesn’t make a lot a sense when you think about for 5 10 seconds -Fan Service -Being Absurd in what’s possible in their respective universes -Having an endless amount of installments -Having its installments be enjoyable and good for the fans but literally no one else -A box that didn’t get open

I love how in Saw X after John and the kid get off the trap the kid is just so happy like he wasn't about to drown in blood 5 minutes earlier. You know, the kind of event that would scar you forever and leave you completely traumatized. Mexican kids are just built different I think.

1:54:26 I love sleepy bucket head boy. I found it so cartoony and comical that he’s passed out the whole time just getting dragged. It for me was the highlight of the film

A reviewer that normally covers cartoons and other kids' media reviewing these movies out of the blue is a very accurate representation of my TV viewing experience in the early 2000s. Syfy was only like four channels away from Nick where I grew up, and they had already made the decision that "science fiction" actually meant "literally any horror movie that has come out recently."

The flammable jelly trap is even worse because what’s in the safe isn’t a key to the room, it’s the antidote to the poison that he was given, so there’s yet another layer to the trap

I love how Rodrick alone is exactly enough to make Saw 6 go past Saw 2 in how good it is, real shame the guy didn't come back but if he did we wouldn't get Diary of a Wimpy Kid so like, I ain't complaining

1:06:27 "It's too dumb, yet... it's also kinda brilliant!" is a good summary of the Saw series as a whole.

“Wholesome” is the best word to describe saw fandom, glad to see you enjoy this weird franchise as much as we do

Let’s be honest tho, none of these movies can ever hold a candle to SpongeBob plays Saw. Truly a cinematic classic!

My favourite part of the Pain Train in Saw 3D is that Jill imagined Hoffman dropping a oneliner before murdering her.

28:02 Speaking of Tobin Bell *being* Jigsaw, I saw somewhere (I think it was YMS) that the writers will sometimes go to him like, "How would Jigsaw reply to this line?" or whatever and Bell will help write the character. It's pretty awesome.

Mark finally being able to get his 2 and a half hour long Saw franchise video out? I call that epic good luck.

Never expected mark to talk about a live action series of movies, and im happy about that

I really dug X and thought it gave some really cool retroactive insight into the early traps/tests/games. - For one, the whole Carlos scenario made him /sort of/ protective about kids in his traps (see also: Daniel Matthews + Corbett Denlon). - I love that idea that X gave him the premise "it can never be personal" because things very nearly fell apart at the end for John, due in part to him being clouded by his need for justice/vengeance, even though he says it's not retribution. - I think the traps against the fake surgery team are meant to be very nearly impossible, just like the treatment they promised. - The other thing is I think the whole point of X is to humanize Jigsaw, like you said, but also to clearly point out the hypocrisy of his message. This is what the first Saw got right too. John is NOT standing on a moral high ground, though he sees himself this way. Partially due to his narcissism and also likely due to his tumor growth, he's disconnected from his own message. - "Epic bad luck" will be an eternal Saw meme thanks to that mid-credits scene haha

Fun fact: the classroom trap was initially easier to escape from, in a sense. The chain in the jaw was originally in his tongue, but the prosthetics always looked weird, so they changed it. Ofc, the door thing was a thing in the draft, too, so it was always meant to be unescapable

What I'll never understand about The Final Chapter's blood being pink is that it's probably really easy (relatively speaking) to just make it red in post for the non-3D version. Color grading can do a lot, and there's really not much excuse for a movie from 2010 to just not bother with something so important.

Saw is really keeping the formula of classic horror alive, starting great and slowly getting worst and worst by each new movie but also really funny that turns an actual great history into an ironic fun time

you know, a lot of people point to John's ideology and how it constantly contradicts as a bad thing, but I personally think it makes his character better. He's a goddamn serial killer, he is not a sane person. The fact there are contradictions just makes him feel like more of a believable character

Accepting Saw as camp is key to happiness

the saw parody in scary movie is the hardest i laughed this year shaq and dr phil are a oddly perfect match

This franchise kind of feels convoluted for some of the same reasons Death Note feels convoluted, where like… you put two really smart people against eachother and give them a bunch of pawns and whatever, and the ways in which they try to get the other one have to become increasingly more complicated and wacky to keep up the tension and intrigue

My headcannon is that John's brain tumor gave him super intelligence and foresight so he was able to pre-empt and predict everything in the franchise xD

1:28:32 “LOOK AT ME, when you’re killing me LOOK AT ME!!” I absolutely loved this guys performance, the whole carousel, agreed, beautifully done

I've always been a fan of Saw 1 John. A psychotic killer who buys into his own bs enough that he ignores his own hipocrisy. I like when he puts people in traps for dumb shit (cutting your wrists once, possibly cheating on your wife, etc. EDIT: Just remembered the guy in the flammable jelly trap was put there because he “faked being sick to get off work”) Because it makes sense for a bitter, insane man to see this as "well, you clearly don't appreciate your life" The traps are always personal in some way, even though John would rather act like he's some impartial arbiter of justice. The time to complete them is always ridiculously short so that the victims won't survive, because he doesn't really want them to survive. The man seriously believes that eacaping his trap will "instantly rehabilitate" someone, whoch couldn't be further from the truth. Also, in Saw 1, he just straight up tries to slice David Tapp's throat. Like, theres no, "Oh, I just put you in the murder trap, you didn't have the will to live, ao I technically didn't kill you." Nah, man just tried to directly kill someone. Love that guy, hes such a prick

It was certainly nice of Lionsgate to give Mark the real life saw trap of try to release this saw Retrospective without a huge amount of copyright strikes 😁👌

I used to work at a movie theater and when Spiral came out, there was also a showing of the Spirit movie, a horse girl movie for kids. I was the ticket guy that'd show you which theater to go to, my two most noticeable customers for that screening was a special needs child and a caretaker, along with a daughter and mother. It instead played the opening to Spiral by accident instead of Spirit.

I'm about half an hour in and I have a couple things to point out: - Leigh Whannell didn't say goodbye to the franchise after the first movie. He is credited with co-writing SAW II, as he helped align it as a SAW movie. And in fact he wrote SAW III in its entirety. It's after THAT point that he went on to do other stuff, such as writing Dead Silence, reteaming with James Wan. - I don't know where you're getting the information that The Desperate's script was rejected for being too SAW-like. Darren's own blog details the timeline of events, and nothing is said about it being rejected. Rather, it's discussed how it was welcomed with open arms by Gregg Hoffman, one of the big three producers. - The people in the SAW II house were not injected with a poison. The nerve gas that was being pumped through the house was what was threatening their lives - John's cancer was originally colon cancer and then a brain tumor followed. He was not diagnosed with brain cancer as far as I am aware. - Not a correction but a small tidbit. It appears you watched the Director's Cut of SAW II, as that part that shows John eating cereal was not in the theatrical version. One of the commentaries talks about how it was removed. I think it was due to it taking away from the intensity of the scene or something, I don't quite remember. In case anyone reads this, I would actually recommend watching the theatrical versions of all the movies first. The unrated / director's cut ones add more blood, but they also sometimes add in elements that don't work very well, and they can make some awful changes. One of the more confounding changes is in SAW IV, the director's cut version just shows Hoffman standing behind Rigg at a certain point at the end, instead of showing clips of him undoing his restraints. It makes for a very confusing finale, and this has been corroborated by others that watched that version on their first viewing. Another thing is that, at least in the SAW II uncut version, all the added shots and moments have a different color grading / quality to the rest of the movie. That is very distracting for me, at least. And then they change a musical cue in the finale with Xavier and Daniel that I think comes off really odd. It doesn't fit well with the event that happens, especially compared to the way it worked in the theatrical version. There is a "cut" in the music that feels very choppy, too. - While Kevin Greutert was the editor on most of the SAW movies, he was not the editor on SAW VI or Spiral. So the entire series did not have the same editor, as you state. - Regarding the pronunciation of Obi's name, it's kind of funny. Jonas, the one that finds the letter with Obi's name on it, says "What the f is an Oh-bee." Then Obi says "Ah-bee... it's my name." And then on the tape, John says "Hello... oooh-bee." It's just a silly thing that makes me smile. They couldn't figure out how to pronounce his name I guess! - Shawnee Smith was pregnant during the shooting of SAW II, including the Needle Pit, but from what I remember the production crew did not know this. - While the needles in the Needle Pit were obviously fake, there was a box of real ones dropped in by accident, so they had to go through every single needle and make sure they found the real ones. Kind of life imitating art with them having to basically find needles in a haystack! And speaking of needles, I actually have one of the syringes used in that scene, as well as one of two screen-used Needle Pit keys! - The Razor Box was actually not meant for Addison. It was meant for Gus, the guy that got his eye shot out from the door. He was an embezzler, and the box trap was meant to signify having to "put his hand in the cookie jar one last time." Addison's trap was meant to be a waffle iron. The idea was that, since she is a sex worker, she needs to get rid of her good looks to get her antidote. She was supposed to press her face against a hot waffle iron to destroy her beauty. Thankfully, at least for me, they did not go that sexist route. The waffle iron idea was later repurposed for that knives trap for Cecil in SAW IV, from what I understand. - Seeing those lights turn on and realizing they were in the SAW bathroom was a mindblowing experience in the theater. Everyone was freaking out! - Awesome that you are covering the Scott Tibbs Documentary! Hoping you are also covering all the SAW in 60 seconds, SAW II in 60 seconds, SAW III in 60 seconds (I think that's a thing), and the interview they do with Billy the Puppet. I think that's on the SAW II special features. All right. I'll be watching in chunks. You bet I'll be back with some more stuff to talk about next time! Trust me, I could make this 100 times longer. I know pretty much all the tidbits from the commentaries, and there are a TON. I definitely recommend watching those, especially the ones with Darren Lynn Bousman as well as James Wan's and Leigh Whannell's. All of those commentaries are GOLD.

44:54 this is a really funny point to me cause John also lost a kid, kinda? And he reacted by… killing the guy “responsible.” So he obviously didn’t take his child’s death very well either.

My mom hated horror movies but we got her to see saw X and she absolutely loved it! It was an amazing movie to get some new people into the series! Now we have been watching 1 saw movie once a week every week (for the most part)

Saw X was such a home run for me personally, I watched them all on the SyFy channel as a kid and I had been dying to see an OG cannon Saw movie in theaters that felt like a damn Saw movie. I am so happy with how it turned out, the credits scene with Hoffman literally had me jump in the theater, I am not a loud moviegoer whatsoever. I really hope the reported 2 more movies is true, we need more Hoffman and Amanda.

The most cursed thing about this video is the sheer amount of Mario party music in the background. That fits so morbidly well.

Most saw traps have me preferring to light myself on fire rather than go through them. The pig guts one alone id die from puking to death, my gag reflex would kill me from most saw traps

I didn’t expect Mark to make a video about the Saw franchise, but I’m down for it.

Mark's jigsaw test was setting up the Ps3

15:32 Ah yes, my favourite horror mascot, *puzzle piece*

It warms my heart finding someone else who unironically loves these movies

Its crazy that liongate goes out of their way to copyright videos like this... if anything these types of videos make me want to watch the series over again. Sorry for the struggles Mark. Great video and just in time for 2 weeks after Halloween!

I love how instead of getting a young actor to play young John Kramer they just made Tobin Bell wear a backwards cap and hoodie

_Saw_ wasn't the "torture porn" progenitor. That was _Hostel._ The Saw franchise didn't start to veer into that territory until its fourth film.

mark reviewing the saw franchise is like him reviewing a anime. its something you'd wouldn't expect

I always get worried whenever I see someone talk about the Saw franchise as I feel like a lot of the time people miss the point of why these films are SO entertaining, so this video really felt like a breath of fresh air. Great video!

I'm not a fan of gore, and I don't know much about the saw franchise, but I'll be damned if there isn't something about listening to Mark talk that inspires me to write my english final. I mean, if this man can sit down and write scripts ranking movies and shows, I can write 7 pages of words. thank you for the help Mark

Gotta love the cheerful video game OSTs Mark is playing in every trap description.

The Saw movies are genuinely my favorite movies! My partner doesn't like gore so much so when she decided to watch them with me, we skipped through the gory traps and they were OBSESSED with the storyline! They are far from perfect and many parts aged poorly, but these movies are so easily consumable and fun!

It's weird how much my stomach is turning from recaps of the films and its not even the gore, well maybe a little bit, but it's more about these horrible fates innocent people are going through.

I've always been terrified of the saw movies (the concept just scares me a whole lot) but hearing all the silly jokes you make and hearing the wacky yet pretty intriguing story has made me a bit less disturbed by the franchise. Maybe I'll check it out one day when I'm not easily frightened. Thanks Mark!! 👍❤️

He talking about the traps while wii resorts music plays in the background is the best moment, honestly

Honestly I really hate that jigsaw never really gets any person to redeem themselves once they survive the traps he set for them and those that do survive never get focused on or how these events effected their lives.🐱

Kidnapped by Jigsaw? Just say no! Jigsaw cannot legally kidnap you without your consent.

The adrenaline rush I got when you mentioned leigh whannell as if I didn't click on this vid knowing full well he was gonna be mentioned

Late but I’ve had a really long week in work, meaning I’ve neglected housework and myself. Long interesting breakdowns like this keep me occupied and motivated, house cleaned, meals prepped, hair washed and plants watered. Thank you for putting so much effort into these ❤

For the shotgun booby trap, consider the following: Tapp and Singh do not have a mandate (meaning the fact they are police is meaningless in this situation), they are armed, it's night, and they entered by forcing the door to enter an occupied building. Depending on the state, the booby trap isn't murder: it's legitimate defense. Of course the fact Jigsaw had a kidnapped victim in there might throw a wrench in that defense.

Seeing Mark make a comprehensive video on the Saw franchise, the ultimate horror soap opera, makes me excited for him to cover other things outside of animation and video games in the future. It would be awesome if he covered other horror franchises or just other media franchises in general and share his opinion. I would be down with that.

2:42 honestly I agree even the horrible ones saw has been I would personally say very consistent. I mean even the bad ones have something in them that can make them bearable and when an entry is good. It hits so well cause usually the good entries are just amazing. But I am happy with the series currently and can’t wait to see what comes next.

I think I preferred Spiral over Jigsaw because there's only so much you can do at this point with John Kramer that a new focus on copycat killers with their own agendas sounds more interesting than just bringing back Tobin for another convoluted thread in the timeline. That said, I liked Saw X and Tobin really knocked it out of the park with his performance.

I feel like the more this video got pushed because of copyright the more it made me want to watch it, and I’ve never seen a saw movie. Thanks lionsgate!

Gotta say I keep hearing the newest Saw is genuinely fantastic so here's hoping they keep that energy.

So my very Christian mom enjoys light horror. Nothing really worse than Poltergeist or Psycho, but I remember enjoying those movies with her when I was younger. As I got older I kept going with horror and she didn't really have a taste for it. There was one day as a teen I was in my room reading and I heard the Saw theme blaring from the TV in the living room. There was my mom just so engaged with the first Saw movie I think they were playing on Scifi. She asked if i had seen it and she told me she really liked it so far so we watched the rest together and honestly it was very sweet. Anyway, I just love that a sweet memory with my mom is related to Saw lol

Its always the people into horror and dark topics are wholesome. Most of the time. Like look at james from dead meat hes a ball of smiles.

I may hate the gore, but I love watching it for the lore. That is the pinnacle of my opinion of this series.

I’ve just got into these films for Halloween. But they are so stupid at times and try to be so much and there’s so many movies that I’m like “I ain’t watching all at” so this is a heavenly video.

i actually watched saw x in theaters about a month after it came out and there was a pretty big audience, its nice to see that saw is becoming popular again! my favorite part of watching it in theaters was valentinas trap, i was sitting between my best friend and a stranger, and while she was sawing off her leg we were all flinching and holding hands 😭 paulette hernandez did a really great job as valentina!

1:15:58 actually, the two of them live! The wiki states that the two get saved by paramedics, and the guy, Mallick, appears in SAW 3D in the jigsaw support group. Great video btw : ]

I'm so glad that Mark also played these Saw flash games lol. There's also one with SpongeBob.

I love how Mark went from talking about Nick All Star Brawl in his last video..... then to Saw in the next, can't say I saw this coming but I welcome it

Jigsaw is really lucky that slitting detective Tapp's throat with his Assassin's Creed blade didn't actually kill him, otherwise he couldn't even pretend to not be a killer anymore

I'm not into horror movies or gore, but this video became one of my favorites and actually got me invested in the convoluted story of these movies. You narrating the whole thing was a lot of fun, minus the jigsaw and spiral part, I guess it made me feel like a Saw fan, because I was just wanting for the fun part to return. Thankfully the main killer of the franchise helping to fix the bike of a random kid in Saw X made up for that.

i’m so insanely glad that Mark is covering my favorite horror franchise, this channel is literally a compilation of all my hyperfixations and it’s great

FINALLY AFTER ALL THE DELAYS, thank you mark 👍

Mark, if it makes you feel any better, some of my earliest experiences on RU-vid (and the Internet in general) were watching animations of SpongeBob in Saw scenarios. For some reason, there were a lot of them back in the late 2000's. You weren't alone in being exposed to strange Saw crossovers.

These movies are gory funbut God damn the story keeps you engaged until the very end. Then you want to watch the next one to see how the story continues. That's how it was for my experience and now I love this franchise.

One interesting fact about the short film is that the reverse beartrap used was a functional trap, so there’s that.

The first Saw was such a gem, but of course we got more and more of a product, becoming more complicated then the last. At least we officially know Rodrick Rules 😭

I’m slowly starting to realize that FNAF is basically just gen Z’s version of the Saw franchise.

every saw release after 7 is essentially set up to have a Scream like payoff. The endings of all the latest saw movies aside from X feel like a scream killer reveal.

My favourite saw trap of all time was when Jigsaw said: "See that knife?- Bababooey your hand off to get the key out before the room goes Bababoom-ey"

It's honestly refreshing seeing LS Mark doing a video based on stuff like this that we don't expect him make videos of!

The best thing about the fanbase is the funny Jeaney Collect videos with Billy the Puppet dealing with super mundane traps

it's crazy how you nail exactly how it feels to watch and enjoy these movies

I love how you avoided copyright by adding the little saws and the movie tittle at the bottom if I didn’t see the community posts I would have just thought it was a nice stylistic choice

Good job mark! Getting this out without any strikes must have given you more nightmares than the actual movies.

Saw movies are my guilty pleasure. And i'm here for this retrospective, love it

ive been a Major saw fan for like 3 years at this point and even i get confused on the timeline and what traps happen in each movie. i love it sm.

Honestly, I think we can all agree that Tobin Bell is the best thing about the entire franchise. That man is a national treasure. The actor for Hoffman on the other hand though, he doesn't hold a candle to Tobin. Hoffman is really nothing else than just a boring plot device. His Saw 6 ending scene was badass though.

Gosh I love the SAW franchise. I believe Saw 4-7 are very underrated. Especially Saw 3D

Was not expecting Mark to be a Saw fan but this is also happy to know he truly is a man of culture 🤝

I literally cannot tell Straum and Hoffman apart

wasn't expecting anything saw related from mark but i'm ready to spend 3 hours watching it

Thank you Mark for this video. It’s gonna get me through the rest of my shift at work today. SAW is my favorite horror franchise of all time so excited to hear your retrospective.

1:51 its scarily accurate how playing games like these was my first exposure to saw more accuratelly the spongebob one and the obama in dragon ball